February 2021
Barbara Crooker
bcrooker@ptd.net
Bio Note: A love poem for my husband, who is slowly (very, very slowly) recovering from a heart attack, stroke, and aortic dissection that happened in October. We can all use a bit more love in this world right now, I’m thinking.

Instead of Buying You a Valentine,
I Looked Out My Kitchen Window

In February, trees are bare,
snowflakes lace the frosted air,
and make the ground a clean white sheet
of paper, scrawled by tiny feet
of juncos, titmice, chickadees,
who write their names with practiced ease,
and on a branch of snowy pine,
two cardinals sit—a valentine.
Originally published in Highlights for Children
©2021 Barbara Crooker
Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the author (email address above) to tell her or him. You might say what it is about the poem that moves you. Writing to the author is what builds the community at Verse Virtual. It is very important. -JL